Gareth Bale injury latest: Tottenham to use blood-spinning technique to speed up Welshman"s return

Posted on April 9, 2013 by adminsports

Spurs banking on blood-spinning remedy to get star man Bale back in double-quick time

By
Sami Mokbel

PUBLISHED:

22:02 GMT, 8 April 2013

UPDATED:

01:41 GMT, 9 April 2013

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Tottenham are putting their faith in the once controversial blood-spinning technique to speed up Gareth Bale's recovery from an ankle injury.

Bale's season looked to be over last Thursday after the Welshman sustained a serious looking ankle injury in Spurs' 2-2 draw against Basle.

But after a scan on Friday, it emerged
that Bale would only miss two games – Sunday's 2-2 draw against Everton
and the Europa League quarter-final second leg clash in Switzerland on
Thursday night.

Scroll down for Premier League highlights

Scare: Gareth Bale was stretchered off against Basle at White Hart Lane

Crucial: Bale has scored 17 league goals for Tottenham this season

Manager Andre Villas-Boas is understandably keen to have Bale fit again as quickly as possible and club doctors will use the blood-spinning method to aid his recovery from injury as Tottenham look to get their star man back on the field for the visit of Manchester City on April 21.

The technique, which was also used on Jermain Defoe earlier in the season as he struggled to overcome a pelvic injury, involves a small sample of a person's blood being injected out of the body before it is spun to increase the concentration of the growth hormone.

The blood sample is then injected into the athlete's problem area which can help an injury heal five times faster.

Blood-spinning first came under the spotlight in 2005 when Chelsea, then managed by Jose Mourinho, were warned by the World Anti-Doping Agency that their use of the method to speed up Arjen Robben's recovery from injury may be illegal – but it is now more commonly used in sport.

Meanwhile, there was better news on the injury front for Tottenham on Monday night as Younes Kaboul made his long-awaited return from a knee injury.

The French defender has not played since the opening-day defeat by Newcastle, but he is on course to play a part in Spurs' crucial Premier League run-in after making his return to action against West Ham Under 21s on Monday.

Back: Younes Kaboul (right) made his long-awaited return from injury on Monday night

VIDEO: Watch highlights of Tottenham's 2-2 draw against Everton

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Drugs in cycling: Marcel Six banned over missed test

Posted on October 26, 2012 by adminsports

Fresh doping woe for cycling as rider Six banned over missed drugs test

UPDATED:

11:35 GMT, 26 October 2012

A cyclist has been banned for 18 months for refusing to take a drugs test because he wanted to get home to his sick children.

Marcel Six, riding for the Metaltek Scott team in an event at Canary Wharf in May, told the tester that his wife was anxious about his children and this was backed up by evidence of text messages and phone calls.

An independent national anti-doping panel ruled however that 26-year-old Six was still guilty of refusing to provide a urine sample for doping control and banned him for 18 months.

Dark days: Charges against Lance Armstrong have plunged cycling into chaos

The panel said: 'Honourable though the athlete's motives may have been, we have no hesitation in finding that his refusal was not based on any compelling justification.

'To be blunt, even if he agreed to race only at the last minute and under pressure, the fact of the matter is that, if he had time to compete in a cycle race, he had to make time to take the test.

'If, as was later the case, he wished to put his family first, then the time to do that was before he agreed to race rather than when he came to be tested.'

The panel did reduce the usual two-year ban by six months after deciding Six was able to demonstrate 'no significant fault or negligence'.

The ban comes in the wake of Lance Armstong being stripped of his seven Tour de France titles.

The International Cycling Union accepted the findings of a United States Anti-doping Agency investigation which concluded Armstrong and his United States Postal Service team ran 'the most sophisticated, professionalised and successful doping programme that sport has ever seen'.

USADA stripped the 41-year-old American of all results from August 1, 1998, including his record run of Tour triumphs from 1999 to 2005, and issued him with a life ban in August, sanctions the UCI have now ratified.

London 2012 Olympics: Luiza Galiulina kicked out after failing drugs test

Posted on August 2, 2012 by adminsports

Uzbek gymnast Galiulina kicked out of Games after failing drugs test

UPDATED:

20:17 GMT, 1 August 2012

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LIVE RESULTS |
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Uzbek gymnast Luiza Galiulina was officially thrown out of the Olympic Games on Wednesday night after tests on her B sample were positive.

The 20-year-old from Tashkent, who had been due to compete in artistic gymnastics, tested positive for the banned diuretic furosemide last week, and had her case heard in London on Saturday.

Booted out: Uzbekistan's Luiza Galiulina

She was initially suspended pending the results of her B sample, which confirmed the original finding.

An International Olympic Committee
statement read: 'The International Olympic Committee (IOC) today
announced that Uzbek athlete Luiza Galiulina (artistic gymnastics) has
been excluded from the Games of the XXX Olympiad in London.

'Galiulina provided a urine sample on
25 July that tested positive for the prohibited substance furosemide.
The analysis of the B sample confirmed the results of the A sample.'

Her file will now be passed on to the International Federation of Gymnastics, who will consider further action.

London 2012 Olympics: Luiza Galiulina fails drugs test

Posted on July 29, 2012 by adminsports

Uzbek gymnast Galiulina the latest to be suspended after failing drugs test

UPDATED:

12:57 GMT, 29 July 2012

LIVE RESULTS |
EVENT SCHEDULE |
MEDALS TABLE

Uzbek gymnast Luiza Galiulina was suspended from the Olympic Games on Sunday after failing a drugs test.

Galiulina tested positive for the banned diuretic furosemide on Wednesday, and had her case heard in London on Saturday night.

The 20-year-old from Tashkent, who was due to compete in artistic gymnastics, will have a B urine sample tested on Sunday.

Suspended: Uzbekistan's Luiza Galiulina

The International Olympic Committee announced: 'The athlete, Mrs Luiza Galiulina, Uzbekistan, Artistic Gymnastics, is provisionally suspended from competing in the Games of the XXX Olympiad, with immediate effect.'

An IOC disciplinary commission, comprising Thomas Bach, Frankie Fredericks and Goran Petersson, examined the case and Galiulina told last night’s hearing at the Hilton Hotel on Park Lane that she did not know how the substance entered her body.

The IOC said in a statement that Galiulina detailed how she was treated by her mother when sick for two weeks at the end of June, and had taken medication for a heart condition on July 22 or 23.

The IOC announced: 'The athlete declared she did not take furosemide, but that she knew what it was and its effects.'

However the IOC commission deemed the information provided to be unsatisfactory and ruled they were “not comfortably satisfied, as required under article 10.4 of the world anti-doping code, of the absence of an intent to enhance sport performance or mask the use of a performance-enhancing substance'.

Galiulina, who stands 4ft 9in tall, is a little-known gymnast on the world stage who was due to be competing at her second Olympic Games, having been eliminated in qualification at Beijing four years ago.

Steffon Armitage abnormal doping test defended by Toulon

Posted on July 26, 2012 by adminsports

Toulon defend Armitage over England international's 'abnormal' doping test

UPDATED:

10:49 GMT, 26 July 2012

'Abnormal': Morphine was found in Armitage's system

Toulon flanker Steffon Armitage has produced an 'abnormal' doping test result – but his club insist he has not taken a banned substance.

The 26-year-old, who has played five times for England, was informed on Wednesday of the issue arising from a test taken after June 9's Top 14 final at the Stade de France.

But a club statement released on Thursday morning insists the result was caused by approved painkillers and anti-inflammatories prescribed for back pain and that Armitage 'has absolutely not taken any illegal substance to improve his performance'.

Toulon revealed the prohibited substance present in Armitage's test was morphine, but said this is a natural side-effect of the painkillers taken by the former London Irish player.

The statement, issued on the club's official website, read: 'Toulon Rugby Club received a letter this Wednesday, July 25, 2012, from the French Rugby Federation reporting an “abnormal” result from an anti-doping test taken by Steffon Armitage after the Top 14 final on June 9 at the Stade de France.

'Before the game, Steffon Armitage took two tablets of paracetamol codeine, a medicine strictly authorised by the French Agency for the Fight against Doping (AFLD).

'Having suffered with back pain in the week leading up to the game, Steffon Armitage was given anti-inflammatories as well as paracetamol codeine (two to four tablets per day) for these pains. All of the medicines administered are authorised by the AFLD.

Brothers in arms: Steffon with Delon back in 2009

'The presence of morphine in Steffon Armitage's urine sample is explained by the fact that 10 per cent of this medicine (paracetamol codeine) is converted naturally into morphine.

'Steffon Armitage has absolutely not taken any illegal substance to improve his performances, but solely a medicine strictly authorised by the AFLD and well known to all.'

According to reports in France, Armitage will appear before the FFR anti-doping commission on August 21 and has been provisionally suspended pending the hearing.

Armitage won his first international cap against Italy in the 2009 RBS 6 Nations, following his brother Delon into the team – the first pair of brothers to represent England since wingers Rory and Tony Underwood.

But he has not featured since a game against the same opposition the following year and moved to France in 2011 after five seasons with Irish, who he joined after coming through Saracens' academy.

London 2012 Olympics: Debbie Dunn out of Games after failing drugs test

Posted on July 14, 2012 by adminsports

US 400m runner Dunn pulls out of Games after failing drugs test

UPDATED:

07:09 GMT, 14 July 2012

American 400 metres runner Debbie Dunn has withdrawn from the London Olympics after returning a positive drugs test.

Dunn released a statement to confirm she would stand aside after the United States Anti-Doping Association (USADA) informed her she had returned a positive sample.

The 34-year-old, who has never competed at an Olympics, was due to run in the 4x400m relay, an event the USA have won since the 1996 Atlanta Games.

Out: 400m athlete Debbie Dunn failed a drugs test

'I have been informed by the US Anti-Doping Agency that a sample I gave at the US Olympic Trials contains an elevated testosterone/epitestosterone level,' Dunn, the 2010 world indoor champion and 2009 relay world champion, said in a statement.

'While I work with USADA to resolve this matter, I am withdrawing from my relay pool position for the 2012 Olympic Games.

'I do not want any issue like this to distract from my team-mates' focus for the biggest meet of their lives.

No go: Dunn won't compete at the London Games

'I wish Team USA best in London as I work toward resolving this matter.'

USADA chief executive Travis T Tygart confirmed Dunn's initial urine sample showed traces of a banned synthetic testosterone. The organisation is currently testing her 'B' sample.

'In response to Ms Dunn's statements, USADA appreciates Ms. Dunn voluntarily removing herself from the Olympic team while the full facts surrounding her elevated T/E ratio and adverse carbon isotope ratio analysis (CIR) are evaluated,' Tygart said in a statement.

'We are currently processing the B sample, and as in all cases all athletes are innocent until and unless proven otherwise through the established full, fair legal process which was approved by athletes, the US Olympic Committee, and all Olympic sports organisations.'

Should Dunn return a positive 'B' sample she could accept sanction or take her case to arbitration.

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Tag Archives: sample

Gareth Bale injury latest: Tottenham to use blood-spinning technique to speed up Welshman"s return

Drugs in cycling: Marcel Six banned over missed test

London 2012 Olympics: Luiza Galiulina kicked out after failing drugs test

London 2012 Olympics: Luiza Galiulina fails drugs test

Steffon Armitage abnormal doping test defended by Toulon

London 2012 Olympics: Debbie Dunn out of Games after failing drugs test